Every fall semester, Conservatory seniors and artist
diploma students compete for a few hotly contested chances
to solo for a performance of the Oberlin Orchestra or
Oberlin Chamber Orchestra. One of those 1998-99 winners,
cellist Christophor Miroshnikov (Artist Diploma '99), will
be featured in an April 9 concert, 8 p.m., in Finney Chapel.
Miroshnikov will perform with the orchestra on Concerto for
Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 107 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

"This piece is a powerful, passionate
and challenging concerto; it is physically exhausting to
perform. The most difficult part is performing under the
orchestra. There's a feeling with this concerto that the
orchestra could just eat you," said Miroshnikov, with a
laugh.

Mitchell Arnold, visiting assistant
professor of conducting, agrees and elaborates. "In this
instance, I inherited Shostakovich's concerto as a way to
showcase the work of Christophor as a concerto winner.
What's most striking about the concerto - in addition to the
depth of expression of the solo part and its technical
demands - is the almost incessant driving, rhythmic
character of the orchestral accompaniment, which is most
clearly heard in the first movement and the finale.

"All concertos throughout music
history in some way pit the soloist and orchestra against
one another, yet have them working in concert with one
another. The word "concerto" is known to derive from two
roots with apparent opposite meanings. One root suggests to
work against - soloist vs. orchestra - while the other
suggests to work "in concert". All concertos contain
elements of both meanings."

Arnold added, "Another interesting
aspect of this piece and of Shostakovich's
work in general, involves history and politics. If one
believes, as I do, the revised history of Shostakovich, then
we must no longer view him as a stooge or tool of the Soviet
State. Rather, I think his music pits the individual with
choice against the apparatus of the State and its
bureaucracy. One hook for the piece is to hear much of the
accompaniment as a driving, industrial, mechanical
apparatus, while the soloist represents the individual. I
don't want to demean the music by framing it in such
simplistic, political terms, but the sounds of the orchestra
and the sounds of the soloists make it so easy and obvious
to draw that conclusion."

The remaining two featured pieces on
the program are by Giuseppe Verdi and Symphony No. 7 in A
Major, Op.92 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

"Both works complement the rather
bleak intensity of the Shostakovich," said Arnold.
"Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 has long been recognized for its
rhythmic complexity and drive. In fact, it has no true slow
movement, other than the Introduction to the first movement
Vivace, and even the relatively slow beat of the
Introduction is often subdivided into much quicker pulses.
Beethoven also pushed dynamics to extremes; several passages
are locked into extremely soft or extremely loud levels for
periods of up to two minutes. The unrelenting character of
these passages, combined with their incessant rhythmic
activity leads to overwhelming dramatic climaxes.

"Verdi's Overture to Nabucco included
his ever-popular va pensiero chorus from the opera
into the Overture but here casts it more as an Italian
serenade featuring solo winds. In addition to somber
trombone chorales, Verdi also featured the opera's Il
maledetto (curse music), which, transforming from the
minor to major mode, drives the Overture to its triumphant
conclusion."

About Mitchell Arnold:

Mitchell Arnold, Visiting Assistant
Professor of Conducting at Oberlin College Conservatory of
Music, recently held the positions of Director of the
Northern Illinois University Philharmonic and Resident
Conductor of the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra. From 1994 to
1996, he was Assistant Director of Orchestras and Director
of the Chamber Orchestra at Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois. He was appointed Co-conductor of the
Northwestern University Summer Orchestra in 1993, Conductor
in 1995. Mr. Arnold has appeared with the Omaha Symphony
Orchestra, the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber
Orchestra at Grant Park, Northwestern University Symphony
Orchestra, Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra,
Northwestern University Philharmonic Orchestra, University
of Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and the North Suburban
Symphony Orchestra (Lake Forest, Illinois).

He has made numerous appearances as a
guest conductor of various orchestras and new music
ensembles. While at Northwestern University, he conducted
productions of Oklahoma, Carousel, Brigadoon, Massenet's
Cendrillon, Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, and Bizet's
Carmen. He also conducted Yeoman of the Guard at the
University of Chicago. In 1978, he founded the
critically-acclaimed Pitzen Brass Ensemble which he
conducted through 1989. Mr. Arnold composed and performed at
the keyboard with the noted Chicago new music ensemble,
Kapture, from 1979 to 1991.

Arnold was born in New York City, and
at age six, began studying piano and music theory in the
preparatory department of the Juilliard School. He completed
his Doctor of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting at
Northwestern University where he was a student of Victor
Yampolsky, and studied opera conducting with Frederick
Ockwell. Other conducting teachers include Dr. Jon Robertson
and Paul Vermel.

About Christophor
Miroshnikov:

Christophor
Miroshnikov, Russian-Greek cellist, is a second year
Artist's Diploma student, studying with Andor Toth, at the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He was born in the former
Soviet Union in 1974, and is the fourth generation of a
family of performing artists and music educators. He began
musical education at the age of five, when he began to study
cello after meeting the acclaimed Russian violinist Leonid
Kogan. Upon completion of studies at the secondary
Tchaikovsky School of Music, he was admitted to the
Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow where he studied with
cellist Natalia Shakhovskaya (a student of M. Rostropovich).
Miroshnikov has performed as soloist with symphony and
chamber orchestras in the United States, Germany, France,
Italy, Austria, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Russia.
He has performed on numerous recordings for Russian radio
and television. His repertoire covers the major compositions
of both western European and Russian pre-classical and
contemporary composers.

Competition Highlights:

1998-99: Awarded Oberlin Concerto
Competition

1998: Awarded first prize in the
Schadt String Competition in Allentown,
Pennsylvania

1997: Graduated from the
Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow, where he received the
"Dean's Talent Award" scholarship

1990: Miroshnikov was only 16 when
he was awarded second prize at the Young Artists
International Competition in Hungary.